Breaking Waves: Ocean News

An update on our progress from the Guardian’s head of sustainability The Guardian environment pledge 2024 Support urgent, independent climate journalism today Five years ago the Guardian made a pledge that we would “play a part, both in our journalism and in our own organisation, to address the climate emergency” with our first annual environment pledge. That commitment reflected our long history of environment reporting and our view that individual companies had to take greater responsibility for their impact on the natural world. We wanted to demonstrate to readers that we were taking the action that our journalism showed was so necessary, and to be transparent about our progress. Today we publish the 2024 pledge. Since then we have worked hard to measure and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, to understand our impact on nature and to share our results openly with readers. In our latest sustainability report, published last month, we show that our emissions have fallen by 43% since 2020, putting us well on track to achieve our goal of a 67% cut by 2030. Continue reading...

Refurbishing an old building is subject to full VAT, but it isn’t if you build a polluting new one. The government’s priorities are all wrong You can damn oil companies, abuse cars, insult nimbys, kill cows, befoul art galleries. But you must never, ever criticise the worst offender of all. The construction industry is sacred to both the left and the right. It may be the world’s greatest polluter, but it is not to be criticised. It is the elephant in the global-heating room. It’s hard not to feel as though we have a blind spot when it comes to cement, steel and concrete. A year has now passed since the UN’s environment programme stated baldly that “the building and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases”. The industry accounts for “a staggering 37% of global emissions”, more than any other single source. Yet it rarely gets the same attention as oil or car companies. Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Proposed inheritance tax changes targeted by body for agricultural industry in England and Wales Farmers protest in Whitehall – live updates What are the tax changes affecting UK farmers? The head of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has accused the government of an extraordinary “betrayal” over its budget changes to inheritance tax for agricultural properties, as he addressed hundreds of farmers who have travelled to London to lobby their local MPs. Speaking to about 600 farmers at Church House in Westminster, Tom Bradshaw described the government measures as a “stab in the back”, after the sector had been previously told that taxes such as agricultural property relief (APR) would not be changed. Continue reading...

Cop29 presidency announces new drive to cut methane emissions from waste dumps as G20 reaffirms transition from fossil fuels The UK government has conceded that Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries that were expected to sign up to a US-UK civil nuclear deal agreed at Cop29 on Monday, writes Adam Morton, Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor. The Albanese government flatly denied media reports on Tuesday that it would join the UK and the US in a collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology. The UK and the US announcement said they would speed up work on “cutting-edge nuclear technology”, including small modular reactors, after inking a deal at the Cop29 UN climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. We urge them to use the G20 meeting to send a positive signal of their commitment to address the climate crisis. Continue reading...